1. Field
One or more embodiments relate to a damper capable of absorbing vibration of a tub generated during the operation of a washing machine, a washing machine with the same, and a control method of the washing machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a drum-type washing machine comprises a tub that receives wash water and a drum that is rotatably mounted in the tub and receives laundry to be washed. The drum-type washing machine washes the laundry by rotating the drum such that the laundry is raised to the upper part of the drum and dropped in the rotating drum.
In a drum-type washing machine, the amount of laundry may be estimated according to the following principle. With respect to a reference time which is the time elapsed to accelerate rotation of the drum up to a predetermined speed, the accelerating time is increased if the laundry amount is large while the accelerating time is decreased if the laundry amount is small. Certain accelerating time and its corresponding amount of laundry are set as reference values based on the above principle. The laundry amount may thus be obtained by comparing the accelerating time currently measured with the reference time.
There is another method to estimate the amount of the laundry. When wash water is supplied in the drum containing the laundry, the laundry in the drum absorbs the wash water, thereby decreasing the water level of the initially supplied wash water. Therefore, the wash water needs to be resupplied to compensate the decrease, and the amount of laundry is determined by counting the number of times wash water is resupplied.
However, those methods are imperfect to accurately perceive the amount of laundry because of various materials and properties of the laundry. When the amount of laundry is incorrectly perceived, the washing efficiency would be deteriorated.